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A review by froon
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
3.0
“i loved the concept more than the book” all of us reviewers say in harmony.
you can tell yu has a passion about the topics she writes about, specifically the story of fukushima and the homeless in ueno station. and she has moments of beautiful heartbreak and philosophy woven through the novel. however, missing is something to ground the narrative. instead, it feels more a sequence of poetic thoughts, tied together by two significant moments (koichi’s dead and kazu’s suicide ). unfortunately, the characters aren’t enough to carry this plotlessness, as kazu is mainly passive and the side characters are mostly one-off appearances.
i did like the cyclical nature of the story. it felt very apt for a narrative of this nature. also, kazu’s absence from his family’s life was a moving and devastating portrait of the sacrifice the poor must make for the hope of stability. those moments will stick with me the most.
overall, this is overwhelming successful for a “blind date with a book” read imo, so i’m going to be ending on this high note and never do that again!
you can tell yu has a passion about the topics she writes about, specifically the story of fukushima and the homeless in ueno station. and she has moments of beautiful heartbreak and philosophy woven through the novel. however, missing is something to ground the narrative. instead, it feels more a sequence of poetic thoughts, tied together by two significant moments (
i did like the cyclical nature of the story. it felt very apt for a narrative of this nature. also, kazu’s absence from his family’s life was a moving and devastating portrait of the sacrifice the poor must make for the hope of stability. those moments will stick with me the most.
overall, this is overwhelming successful for a “blind date with a book” read imo, so i’m going to be ending on this high note and never do that again!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide